The Adventure of the Stockbroker's Clerk
"The Adventure of the Stockbroker's Clerk" is a Sherlock Holmes short story by the British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It first appeared in print in the March 1893 issue of The Strand magazine. It was published again in December of the same year as part of the anthology The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. The story's title character is a young man named Hall Pycroft. Shortly before Hall Pycroft is due to start work for a prestigious London firm, a man named Arthur Pinner offers him a better paid position in another city. Hall Pycroft agrees to go to Birmingham to work for Arthur Pinner's brother Henry. When Hall Pycroft discovers that Arthur and Henry Pinner are the same person, he seeks help from the brilliant consulting detective Sherlock Holmes. The story has been adapted for radio. Plot One Saturday morning in June, Dr. Watson receives a visit from his friend and former housemate the detective Sherlock Holmes. Holmes asks Watson if he would like to accompany him to Birmingham and join him in the investigation of a case. Watson agrees. Holmes leads Watson to a cab, in which his client, Hall Pycroft, is waiting. On the train journey to Birmingham, Hall Pycroft tells Watson the facts of the case. Hall Pycroft is from London. For five years, he worked as a stockbroker's clerk for the firm Coxon & Woodhouse's. When Coxon & Woodhouse's suddenly went out of business, Hall Pycroft found it very difficult to get another job. He applied for a position at the prestigious company Mawson & Williams's. To his surprise, Hall Pycroft got the job on the strength of his application letter alone and without an interview. He was told that he would begin work at Mawson & Williams's the following Monday. On the evening of the Friday before he was due to start work at Mawson & Williams's, Hall Pycroft received a visit from a man whose business card introduced him as, "Arthur Pinner, Financial Agent". Arthur Pinner was a man of medium build with dark hair, dark eyes, a black beard, a large nose and a bad gold filling in one of his teeth. He said that he had heard good things about Hall Pycroft from his former manager at Coxon & Woodhouse's and asked him a few questions about the stock market. Arthur Pinner then offered Hall Pycroft a job at the Franco-Midland Hardware Company, Limited with a starting salary of five hundred pounds a year, more than twice what he was offered by Mawson & Williams's, with the promise of much more money in the future. When Arthur Pinner gave him an advance of one hundred pounds, Hall Pycroft agreed to go to the temporary offices of the Franco-Midland Hardware Company, Limited at 126b Corporation Street, Birmingham at one o'clock the following afternoon and begin work for Arthur Pinner's brother Henry. Arthur Pinner tells Hall Pycroft to write a note in which he says that he agrees to take up the position of business manager at Henry Pinner's company. Hall Pycroft says that he will write a resignation letter to Mawson & Williams's. Arthur Pinner tells him not to do so. He tells Hall Pycroft that he spoke to the manager of Mawson & Williams's about him earlier that day. The manager was not happy that Pinner was trying to take away his new employee but said that Pycroft would choose to work fro the more secure firm of Mawson & Williams's. Pinner bet the manager five pounds that he would never hear from Pycroft again. The manager replied, "We pulled him out of the gutter, and he won't leave us easily." Offended that a man he had never met would speak of him in such a manner, Pycroft agreed not to bother writing a resignation letter to Mawson & Williams's. The following day, Hall Pycroft went to Birmingham and got a room in a hotel. Fifteen minutes before the appointed time of his meeting with Henry Pinner, he went to 126b Corporation Street. He found that the building housed the offices of several companies but could not find a sign for the Franco-Midland Hardware Company, Limited. Henry Pinner then appeared. He looked a lot like his brother Arhur, except that he had lighter colored hair and did not have a beard. He explained that the company had recently moved to the building and did not have a sign yet. Henry Pinner led Hall Pycroft to his offices, two dusty rooms that were furnished with only two chairs, a table and a waste paper basket. Henry Pinner told Hall Pycroft that, in a week, he would take up the position of business manager at the firm's Paris depot. He gave Pycroft some work to do in the meantime. He gave him a large book which was an alphabetical listing of all the businesses in Paris. Pycroft was told to mark all the hardware shops in the directory. The task took him a week. After Pycroft had marked all the hardware shops, Pinner told him to mark all the furniture shops and to come back to see him at seven o'clock the next evening. Henry Pinner told Pycroft not to work too hard and suggested he visit the music hall. He laughed at his suggestion. When Henry Pinner laughed, Pycroft saw that he had a bad gold filling in exactly the same tooth as Arthur Pinner. Pycroft was in no doubt that Henry and Arthur Pinner were the same man. Pinner altered his appearance by shaving off his beard and wearing a wig. Confused at what was going on, Pycroft decided to contact Sherlock Holmes. Holmes, Watson and Pycroft arrive in Corporation Street, Birmingham shortly before seven o'clock in the evening. They see Pinner buy a newspaper and go up to his offices. Pycroft, Holmes and Watson go into the office. They find Pinner, who looks extremely distressed, reading the newspaper. Pycroft introduces Holmes and Watson as friends of his who are looking for work. Pinner says that he might be able to find positions for them, before saying, "And now I beg that you will go. For God's sake leave." Pycroft reminds Pinner that he is keeping an appointment with him and expects to be given another task. Pinner excuses himself for a few minutes and goes into the other room. When strange sounds start to come out of the other room, Holmes breaks the door down. He finds Pinner in a closet, trying to hang himself with his own suspenders. Pinner is still alive but barely conscious. Sherlock Holmes says that he will now have to call the police, although he does not like to do so without being able to give them the full facts. He knows that Pinner told Pycroft to write a note saying that he accepted the job in order to get a sample of his handwriting. This indicates that someone planned to imitate Pycroft. The staff at Mawson & Williams's have never seen Pycroft but know his handwriting from his application letter. Pycroft was sent to Birmingham and kept busy to prevent him from coming back to London. Holmes knows that two people must be involved, Pinner and the man who is imitating Pycroft. Pinner had to play the role of the employer in Birmingham as well because he did not want to involve a third person. Holmes still does not understand why Pinner tried to hang himself. Pinner manages to say, "The paper". Watson looks at the newspaper that Pinner was reading. He sees that it is not a Birmingham newspaper but a London one, the Evening Standard. Watson reads that Beddington, a safe-cracker and forger who usually works with his brother, has been arrested. Beddington worked at Mawson & Williams's for a week, masquerading as Hall Pycroft. During that time, he familiarized himself with all of the building's locks. A policeman became suspicious when he saw Beddington, carrying a carpet bag, leave the Mawson & Williams's building more than an hour after most of its employees leave on a Saturday afternoon. Beddington killed a security guard and emptied the safe. Sherlock Holmes is relieved that he is now able to provide the Birmingham police with all of the facts. Adaptations A faithful radio adaptation of "The Adventure of the Stockbroker's Clerk", starring Clive Merrison as Holmes and Michael Williams as Watson, first aired on BBC Radio 4 in the United Kingdom on January 22, 1992. In the adaptation, the two criminals are named as Jethro Beddington (safe-cracker and forger) and Ned Beddington (a confidence trickster who pretends to be the two Pinner brothers). At the end of the program, Holmes tells Hall Pycroft that he still has a good chance of getting a job with Mawson & Williams's because the firm is now short of one clerk. He adds that he and Watson would be happy to provide references for Pycroft if necessary. External links *Text of "The Adventure of the Stockbroker's Clerk" on Wikisource. *Quotations from "The Adventure of the Stockbroker's Clerk" on Wikiquote. *Public domain audiobook of "The Adventure of the Stockbroker's Clerk" on YouTube. *"The Adventure of the Stockbroker's Clerk" on Baker Street wiki. Category:Detective Category:Mystery Category:Short Stories Category:Famous Category:Classic